Universal Bows Label For Catalog Acts

Universal Music Enterprises has launched New Door Records, an imprint that will serve to cross-promote new material by artists with existing UME catalog.

Universal Music Enterprises has launched New Door Records, an imprint that will serve to cross-promote new material by artists with existing UME catalog.

New Door will kick off Sept. 14 with the first album in 15 years by Tears For Fears, "Everybody Loves a Happy Ending." The imprint -- which will be marketed through UME and distributed through Universal Music & Video Distribution -- has also lined up Styx, Nanci Griffith and Joe Cocker for releases in the coming months.

UME head Bruce Resnikoff will oversee New Door. "In our efforts to market catalog, UME started putting out a number of releases that were a blend -- hit compilations with new songs on them," he says. "This transitioned us into marketing new music in a way that took a lot of the nontraditional approaches for catalog, but brought us an opportunity to highlight artists and songs without the traditional MTV way of marketing music."

In the case of Tears For Fears, which is receiving airplay at triple-A and adult top 40 radio for first single "Call Me Mellow," Resnikoff says New Door is employing many of the marketing strategies of a traditional label, but will also create a direct-response TV marketing campaign.

"By the band getting back together and us getting involved in this new record, we have an opportunity to not only take a great record to the marketplace, but it's the first opportunity we've had to aggressively market and promote their entire music catalog while the band is working," he says.